Sometimes the power of a story comes not from suspense, but inevitability.

Through all the turf struggles, gunfire, elaborate schemes and moving parts of the sixth season of "Sons Of Anarchy," there's been an almost inescapable force surrounding Charming and its inhabitants. A malicious kind of gravity, something pulling everyone down and then letting them get just far enough away to yank them back again, tugging and releasing until something finally broke.

Tara Knowles was at the heart of this tug-and-pull, making desperate move after desperate move to escape a lifestyle she knew would poison her children, losing parts of herself and acting much more like Gemma than she wanted in the process.

There was only one way this could end, and sadly, it's the way these stories play out in real life.

Watching Tara Knowles collapse into her own blood might have shocked me at one time, but now? I acknowledged her death with a sigh and a simple realization:

In Charming, that's just how it is.

Maggie Siff was the shining star of another largely uneven season of Sons of Anarchy, and her shift from emotionally battered wife to tragic hero was a pleasure to watch. But Dr. Knowles signed her death warrant several years and seasons ago, when she looked around and found herself the husband of a murderer, the daughter-in-law to an unhinged control freak, the mob doctor to a violent criminal organization, and chose to stay anyway.

And that's the rub. We've seen this car crash coming for weeks, if not months. And there was nothing anyone could have truly done to stop it.

Sure, maybe this ends differently if Jax doesn't find Tara at the park with her lawyer, but it was Jax all along who was keeping Tara anchored to this bloody California town. She could never bring herself to hurt him or send him to prison, at least not until it was far too late, and it took a torrent of blood and infidelity for her to even consider leaving him at all.

Tara was resigned to this fate. She's not the first truly good person to meet a bloody end due to the club's machinations, but she might be the first one we cared about this deeply.

The question, at least for me, was not if Tara would die, but how. It's only fitting that Gemma, now abandoned and completely out of her mind at the thought of being discarded by another lover and losing another family member, ended her years-long struggle with Tara in such bloody fashion. This is quintessential Gemma, acting on impulse and her borderline psychotic devotion to her family, making a bigger mess of things than she could ever imagine.

Tara and Gemma are more alike than they would like to admit, except for one fundamental difference. Tara will connive and scheme and hurt with a genuine interest in protecting her family, usually with some modicum of success. Gemma's more like a wild animal, mauling without thought, usually making things far worse for Jax than they could have been. She's now murdered her first husband, framed her second one for murder, and slaughtered her son's true love over the course of her life with the M.C.

The woman's a black widow in the purest sense, and at some point, she will need to be met with that realization. I, for one, am praying that results in some actual suffering for Gemma, because I'm actually a little bit mad about Tara's death, despite seeing it coming. Watching Gemma kill her, and knowing it was ultimately of absolutely no value to anyone, was kind of brutal. Bravo, Mr. Sutter, for that one.

This was the most complete finale for "Sons" since Season 2, as it wrapped up the season's plot lines nicely and setup the pieces for next year without any wild contrivances (Season 4), or victories that didn't feel earned (Season 3). The investigation into Tara's murder, and the eventual clash between Jax and Gemma when he finds out his mother killed his wife, are tantalizing enough to keep me hooked for another year.

Juice's role in all this will definitely be intriguing as well, and hopefully it gives Theo Rossi something to do besides keep up his hot streak of failed suicide attempts. Juice was the only SAMCRO member with a real arc this year (besides Jackson), so at least we got something out of it.

Of course, these reviews can't be all positive, because unfortunately, these episodes are about more than Tara. I've said very little about Jax or the shifting underworld alliances that took up the rest of the finale, and that's because I find myself caring less and less about either of them.

Jax had some nice moments here (Charlie Hunnam losing it and kissing Tara's corpse hurt, as Happy would say "like, a lot."), but I've found myself largely disinterested in his internal struggles and character arc over the year. His journal entries, which carried weight as narration way back in Season 1, now read like the petulant ramblings of a grounded teenager. That line about cutting himself on his own reflection in the opening monologue was best left on the cutting room floor of a freshman English class.

Sure, the idea that Jax would take the hit for the club and his boys, and let Tara go, would have been a nice slice of redemption for the fallen SAMCRO president. But the writers again set Jax on a path they knew would never come to fruition, and the move also made little sense given Jax's actions this season. He's had Tara escorted everywhere by guard just to keep the boys in his line of sight this season, now he's willing to lose them and send himself to prison? Bit of a seismic shift there.

The power plays in the gun business have become less and less interesting this season, finally bottoming out with the club's battles against Saturday morning cartoon villain Galen O'Shea this year. I'm not going to say much about the brewing Mayans-One Niners-Triad-ByzLat-MickeyMouseClub-Avengers-Justice League war, because we've seen these multicultural gang wars play out time and time again on this show. At least, with the inclusion of Nero and Alvarez, the crime arcs of the show will hopefully involve real stakes for characters we care about next season. But the gangland story lines have been trite at best as of late, and I'm much more interested in how Jax and Gemma live in the shadow of Tara's murder than anything else next year.

I will miss you Tara Knowles. In the fictional Charming, you were the show's conscience and in alot of ways the town's last hope at redemption. In the writer's room, maybe you were something like that too. A guidepost back to good TV when the shootouts and the gun smoke cleared away.

Charming will be less without you. In more ways than one.

RANDOM MUSINGS ON THE REST OF THE CAST:

• I don't remember how many four-letter words I used when Sheriff Eli bit the dust, but there were enough there that my girlfriend gave me the "We're going to church this weekend" stare as I watched the finale. Rockmond Dunbar, you were beyond wasted on this show. This character has been marginalized since his introduction in Season 4, and I'm a little glad you were put out of your misery.

• More CCH Pounder please. Tyne Patterson had her ups and downs this season, but her maternal speech to Jax in the ice cream parlor channeled the spirit of Claudette Wyms (my weekly reminder that if you haven't watched "The Shield" your life is incomplete goes right here). She's proven herself a mostly capable and worthy adversary for the club, the snafu with the prison transport hijacking that led to Clay's murder notwithstanding. She's avoided the crazy that made June Stahl and Lincoln Potter and Lee Toric unbearable, and gives light to my hope of this show creating one intriguing law enforcement character before its run is over.

• Poor Wayne Unser. Finally gets what he wants (Gemma's attention and possible affection) only after the woman he loves has completely broken down, and oh yeah, murdered an innocent woman. Wonder how bad Unser's guilt is going to rip him up when he realizes what he was party too.

• Poor Nero. This is the second straight season finale he's tried to leave the game, only if a member of the Teller family agreed to step away with him. And once again, here he is, sitting down with the Triad and Alvarez, dragged down further than ever. Since we see far less of Nero's point of view than Jax, one could also argue that he dumped Gemma to free himself of Jax's whirlwind behavior, not because she wouldn't run away with him.

• Running short on time here, so I'll jump back in with more musings and comments later.

• It was a pleasure, as always, interacting with you guys. I'll be back next year, but I'm always about entertaining the six of you that actually enjoy these reviews. I've considered doing brief reviews of "Justified" (bullet points if you will, puns are fun!), but I'll leave it up to you guys in the comments if that's something you'd be interested in reading.

Questions. Thoughts. Haiku? Leave' em below, but only after you pour one out for Dr. Knowles.